BUSINESS

Theme 1: Marketing and people

Theme 2: Managing business activities

Theme 3: Business decisions and strategy

Theme 4: Global business

Paper 1: Marketing, people and global business

Paper 1 will assess marketing, people and global businesses. Questions will be drawn from Themes 1 and 4, and from local, national and global contexts.

• Written examination.

• The paper comprises two sections.

• Students answer all questions from both sections.

• Sections A and B each comprise one data response question broken down into a number of parts, including one extended open-response question.

• Duration: 2 hours.

• 100 marks available.

Paper 2 will assess business finance and operations, business decisions and strategy. Questions will be drawn from Themes 2 and 3, and from local, national and global contexts.

• Written examination.

• The paper comprises two sections.

• Students answer all questions from both sections.

• Sections A and B each comprise one data response question broken down into a number of parts, including one extended open-response question.

• Duration: 2 hours.

• 100 marks available.

The context will focus on a broad context, such as an industry or market in which businesses operate. The question paper will be in two sections. The first section will focus on the broad context provided. This will be outlined to centres through the pre-released document. Questions will focus on the broad context.

The second section will focus on at least one strand within the context provided, such as a particular business.

• Written examination.

• The paper comprises two sections.

• Students answer all questions from both sections.

• Sections A and B each comprise one data response question broken down into a number of parts, including one extended open-response question.

• Duration: 2 hours.

• 100 marks available.

The focus of the course is to nurture enthusiasm for studying business using contemporary contexts, allowing learners to develop an appreciation of the strategic, complex and interrelated nature of business issues from a local to a global perspective. Students are introduced to business in Themes 1 and 2 through building knowledge of core business concepts and applying them to business contexts to develop a broad understanding of how businesses work.

Breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding, with applications to a wider range of contexts and more complex business information, are developed in Themes 3 and 4, requiring students to take a more strategic view of business opportunities and issues.

Students are encouraged to use an enquiring, critical and thoughtful approach to the study of business, to understand that business behaviour can be studied from a range of perspectives and to challenge assumptions.

Business is a broad-based discipline, with elements of psychology, economics, sociology, politics, geography and technology. Students must read, investigate and take a genuine interest in the outside world - this is not a purely classroom or textbook based subject. Many of the students who take Business at Clayesmore go on to read a related degree subject at university, such as Business Management, Management Studies, Marketing or Finance.

BOARD: AQA, SPECIFICATION: A7405

Chemistry is an essential subject for anyone who wants a career in medicine, veterinary science and biochemistry. It is also very useful for dentistry or forensic science, and even accountancy. It will also equip you for a career in industry; for example, in the petrochemical or pharmaceutical industries.

A Level Chemistry helps you develop a number of skills including how to apply knowledge in new situations; how to assess data and accurately record observations; how to investigate facts using evidence, risk assessment and practical laboratory skills. This course will help you develop logical, step-by-step reasoning.

• Physical Chemistry: this focuses on energy changes and analysing the amounts of substances, it is very heavy on calculations.

• Inorganic Chemistry: this looks at the reactions and properties of many elements of the periodic table and explores trends in their behaviour.

• Organic Chemistry: the reactions; properties and uses of carbon compounds. This section is essential to life and the petrochemical industry.

All three strands are studied in Year 12. The knowledge is then built on in Year 13. There is a significant practical part of the course in which you will perform and record experiments in all topics. The practical work must be completed in order to pass the course.

Three 2 hour examinations

1. 105 marks 35% of A Level. Physical and Inorganic Chemistry. Relevant practical skills.

2. 105 marks 35% of A Level. Physical and Organic Chemistry. Relevant practical skills.

3. 90 marks 30% of A Level. Any content and any practical skills.

Chemistry is a challenging subject that requires strong mathematical skills and an ability to apply these to complex scenarios. For this reason, it is helpful to have at least a grade 6 in Mathematics at GCSE.

You will also need a minimum of a grade 6 in separate Chemistry GCSE or 7/6 grades in Combined Science.

If you studied the Combined Science GCSE course there will be a small number of topics you will need to prepare over the summer holiday after GCSEs and during the first year of the course. We will help you with these.